After decades of sanctions and recent wars hindering the development of its vast oil and natural gas resources, Iraq is now coming into its own as a significant energy powerhouse in the Middle East. Iraq controls the third largest proven petroleum reserves after Saudi Arabia and Canada and has begun a concerted effort to invest in the modernization of its oil infrastructure; consequently, in 2009, Iraq allocated $3.2 billion to its Ministry of Oil to continue the ongoing construction of major projects in the region. Iraq features the world's largest known concentration of supergiants, a cluster of nine oil and gas fields, each holding more than 5 billion barrels. The Ministry of Oil controls oil and gas production and development in all but the Kurdish territory through three national oil companies.